1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of speech recognition, and more particularly, to speech-based user interfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Speech interfaces are frequently used in conjunction with database-driven systems to provide users with a speech-based method of searching for information. One common example of such a system is a telephone directory system where a user can verbally specify an argument, such as a name, for which the speech-enabled system can search. Speech interfaces can work effectively in cases where a database search returns a single search result. If the search returns multiple search results, however, the search effectively fails unless the user is provided with an opportunity to select, or disambiguate, one search result from the multiple search results.
Disambiguation within a visual environment can be accomplished with relative ease in comparison with disambiguation in an audio environment. In a visual environment, search results are displayed to the user so that the user then can make a selection. Disambiguation within a speech interface, however, can be problematic. Specifically, each search result is played to the user, data field by data field. Playing search results in this manner can result in a confusing and nonsensical playback of the search results. The search results effectively serve as long and confusing speech menu items which can be difficult for the user to remember when making a selection. Moreover, some data items can be unpronounceable by the speech interface.
One solution has been to play only search result contents from predetermined data fields in an effort to reduce speech menu item size. If, however, the selected data field includes duplicate data items among the search results, the search results cannot be disambiguated by the predetermined data field. In that case, the user hears what can sound like duplicate speech menu items, despite the fact that each speech menu item corresponds to a different search result.